Weekend Questions Thread - May 23, 2025
Have a question about training, recovery, programming, or diet? This is the place to ask
No question is too basic or too advanced. Whether you’re new to strength training or a seasoned lifter troubleshooting sticking points, ask away.
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Ok, so I'm switching over to a 5/3/1 program, and I've tried to digest all the information from Jim Wendler and a few others, tailored towards my own things.
I'm choosing a 3 day split, based around bench, deadlift, and squat. I have a previous neck injury that results in painful muscle spasms if I overtrain on any movements pushing or pulling above my head, so I don't train OHP to failure. As a result, it seems like specifically treating OHP as its own primary lift isn't something that I want to do, or need to do.
I'm setting my training max at my 5 rep max at each lift (180 lb bench, 335 lb squat, 385 lb deadlift). There are some formulas for estimating your 1 rep max from 5 reps, and Wendler recommends a training max set at 90% or 85% of the 1 rep max, and I think these two calculations seem to mostly cancel each other out (I've seen some say 4rm is a good number, but also some saying that it doesn't hurt to go with a lower training max anyway).
So with accessories, I'm just going to do some pushing with my bench day (OHP, incline bench, push ups, dips), some pulling with my deadlift day (rows, pull ups, clean and jerks), and some leg stuff with my squat day (front squat, lunges, calf raises). Any issues I should be aware of on this approach? I'm open to other approaches, but can't really do gym sessions longer than an hour, and going more than 3 times a week is gonna be difficult.
So here's what I'm looking at, in terms of actual details:
Week 1: 5-rep sets of 65%/75%/85% (last set AMRAP)
Week 2: 3-rep sets of 70%/80%/90% (last set AMRAP)
Week 3: 5 x 75%, 3 x 85%, 1 x 95% (last set AMRAP)
Week 4: 5-rep sets of 40%/50%/60%
Then I increase my training max. I'll be back here asking whether I should be doing more than the 10 lbs/5 lbs based on my actual performance on the AMRAP sets.
Anything else I should think about?
That should work pretty well for you. You could look at some of the 3 day templates (Full body 1000% awesome, beginners, maybe a few others) and just row anytime you see overhead press called for, would get you a bit more volume on main lifts.
Jim is pretty adamant about not going over 5/10lbs even if you do well on the AMRAPs, but honestly I think if you blow them out of the water then you'd be fine to increase that lift more. And you'll know if your TM is too high if the heavy sets turn into a grind-fest. Just drop the TM down a bit in that case and push forward. You want all your reps to be at a good speed, that's the sweet spot for sub-max training
Accessories are just whatever floats your boat. Normally he calls for 50 push, 50 pull, 50 single leg / core every workout but he also says over and over it doesn't really matter, he never gives much attention to accessories. You should be able to superset them to save on time and be well under an hour